The Hudson Gateway Association of Realtors, which oversees Orange County's Realtors and compiles data on their sales, is the only Realtor group in the state that doesn't make sales figures public on a monthly basis. Orange County's Realtor group was folded into the association in January 2012, merging with those in Rockland, Westchester and Putnam counties.

"We believe quarterly data provides a more accurate representation of market conditions," Richard Haggerty, Hudson Gateway's CEO, said in an email. "Shorter periods can be subject to vagaries, like bad storms or school-week vacations, and when dealing with areas that have a limited number of transactions, can create a distorted representation."

Hudson Gateway does report data monthly to the New York State Association of Realtors, but the state group does not put the figures on its sales charts. It makes the same accommodation for the Greater Capital Association of Realtors and the Buffalo-Niagara Association of Realtors.

"We're getting data from them every month," Salvatore Prividera, spokesman for the state association, said of the three groups. "Those local boards, though, have requested that they be the ones to release their data publicly."

Instead of keeping its figures to itself for three months, the Buffalo-Niagara association posts the numbers on its website, CEO John Leonardi said.

The Greater Capital association does likewise, and also issues monthly reports by fax and email to more than 40 media outlets, CEO James Ader said.

The Orange County Association of Realtors had for decades provided monthly figures (just as the Sullivan and Ulster boards of Realtors still do), and even after the merger, the county's numbers were still released by the Goshen office of Hudson Gateway until this year.

Hudson Gateway stopped issuing monthly reports for Orange County beginning with January's results. That followed the policy of what was the Westchester-Putnam Association of Realtors before the merger.

"It can be inconvenient to someone like myself who wants to see the data," said economist Christy Caridi, director of Marist College's Bureau of Economic Research.

It also can mean prospective buyers looking for a home without an agent are going into the marketplace with less information.

Caridi, though, suspected agents would share sales and price figures with their clients.

"If someone is looking to buy a home, or sell a home," she said, "I'd guess that their real estate agent would inform them of the sales, the situation in their area."